Rehua has been with Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti since the start. Photo: RNZ / Lillian Hanly
Tens of thousands of people are expected to gather at Parliament today as the final leg of the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti reaches its last destination - but organisers and participants are saying it will not end there.
At Takupūwāhia Marae in Porirua yesterday afternoon, people who had come to Wellington on the hīkoi sat together, awaiting the final leg of their journey and cast their votes against the Bill by explaining why they'd joined the hikoi.
Many spoke about the unity they felt along the way, the pride in being Māori, and how they wanted that to continue.
Some have travelled from Te Rerenga Wairua, while others have joined along the way as it moved from town to town in both the North and South Islands.
Rehua, who has been travelling with dad Sam, said they had been there from the start.
He is from Cable Bay "up north". How far up north? "So far."
He had one message: "Ditch the government."
His father holds the Matakite flag - Whina Cooper's flag - at the front of the hīkoi, "to lead the people, carry the mauri".
He had to check how many days he had been on the road, "I'm running on 'E', but my tank's still full. It's full on the kaupapa. It's full of mana. And the people I've met, they've kept my cup full."
Hona Edwards from Whangārei said he was there to "help to unite our people in this country, no matter who you're from or where you're from".
"This government is is seeking to undo all of that effort. It's just a stand to let them know that it's unacceptable behavior. It's further betrayal of the agreement that our ancestors had."
Manaia Tuwhare-Hoani, Hone Tuwhare's granddaughter, is from Hokianga and Whangaruru and said she was here because of her tūpuna.
"There's a lot of mana and a lot of weight, in being a part of this kaupapa. It was hard for me to not keep coming."
She said going back to mahi was not the priority.
"The vibes in every single place we've been to have been super positive and super uplifting.
"The positivity has just been carried from the top to the bottom the whole way. It's been super peaceful, super soul-filling."
A 'united front'
Lena Gray and Kevin Swannell are from Papapkura in Auckland, and they got on the road after the Auckland activation.
Gray said she was here for kotahitanga: "It's about a united front. It's about Te Tiriti o Waitangi."
She said David Seymour's Treaty Principles Bill was not the right way to have a "national conversation".
"Look at how many people are gathering here, and how many have gathered across the country to say, this is not the way to do it."
She said there had been no effort on Seymour's part to ask Māori how they wanted to have that conversation.
"What is appropriate from our tikanga standpoint - those questions are not being asked. There are a lot of assumptions being made. In fact, I would just say, just completely overlooked, because it's their way or the highway."
Swannell added the phrase "conversation" suggested two parties that "sit down together and listen to each other". If it was one sided, he said that was more like a "dictatorship".
"I think for me, this is a opportunity to stand up and have a voice and be heard and be seen."
Some joined from Te Tai Rawhiti, with one woman saying she'd joined "for Te Tiriti o Waitangi, He Whakaputanga, our babies, our kids, our future generations, our past generations."
She would travel from the East Coast again "with a smile" if it meant "we got heard and seen."
Another man said his hope for today was "te iwi Māori coming together in unity" and to take this kaupapa on further, "I don't want this to stop .. to be proud of who we are all the time."
'You end up exactly where you're meant to be'
Rangi Hapi drove up to Palmerston North and then joined the hīkoi in Kirikiriroa. He's currently homeless, and was staying in his car. He described getting a message from his ancestors, that he took to mean he should join the Hīkoi. He reconnected with some of his Tūwharetoa relatives while travelling on the hīkoi, who told him to come home, which he said was a "real special moment."
"Sometimes you don't know where you're going, but you end up exactly where you're meant to be."
Hapi wanted to acknowledge a Pākehā whānau he connected with in Kirikiriroa: "Thank you for being here with us, because it's real brave for Pākehā. To all our Pākehā who's come along, we love you. Thank you so much."
Raymond Katene of Ngāti Toa has spent his entire 70 years "born and raised in the pā" - Takapūwāhia marae, where many stayed overnight before heading into the city this morning.
He said the generosity shown by the wider community had been "absolutely fantastic," saying Chinese, Indian, Pacific Island and Pākehā communities had gifted veggies, fruit, meat and financial koha.
"This is big picture stuff... when we connect to wider whānau right through the motu."
He said these kinds of hui were about bringing people together and making connections.
"I'm just proud to be Māori." He referenced the late Kiingi Tuheitia's call to be Māori every day, saying that was what had driven people to this day. "We've got to be proud of who we are."
Organiser and former Te Pāti Māori candidate Eru Kapa-Kingi is expecting tens of thousands of people today.
"I'm expecting exactly what I've seen this whole week, just a beautiful display of pride in being Māori and also standing in solidarity the likes of Tangata Tiriti, Tangata Tauiwi, supporting the kaupapa as well."
He said it will be another display of "Māori magic", but probably one not seen before in terms of magnitude.
Kapa-Kingi said it was an honour to be part of activating people around the country.
"It feels like we're honoring a legacy that is generational, and adding to that legacy in the best way we can, and also in a way that's unique to our generation."
He said he thought that 'legacy' had gone to places it could not have in previous times, due to better access to technology.
Kapa-Kingi wanted to utilise the "energy of kotahitanga" (unity) to formulate a platform that can "carve out a new future reality" for Māori.
"What does that look like? How do we fund that? What institutions do we form under our tikanga? What are those tikanga?"
He said it was about building on Matike Mai, "giving that life."
Preprations for the crowd
Parliament has made the usual preparations for a large gathering, removing flagpoles and setting barricades on the forecourt
The Speaker has also closed the public gallery for Question Time today
A small delegation of National MPs will meet the hikoi today, but the Prime Minister is still considering how he will engage - a closed door meeting is also an option.
ACT leader David Seymour is also unsure, saying he will wait to see what the vibe is but he hopes the hīkoi is another avenue to discuss the Treaty.
Speaking at Parliament yesterday, he acknowledged there was a number of government policies people disapproved of, but thought the Treaty Principles Bill was part of the reason people were on the hīkoi.
"Part of the argument of the Treaty Principles Bill is that if we're going to have a modern interpretation of those principles, a lens through which we look back to 1840 at what our treaty, our founding document, means, then that should happen in a democratic institution like Parliament."
He said it was a public discussion that everyone can participate in to define the Treaty Principles in law, and "not as a partnership," but as something that "gives equal rights to all."
In response to criticism the Bill has caused division, Seymour said he would argue the division was already there.
"You say my bill is causing division, I would say it's revealing division that's built up over several decades, including when Jenny Shipley and Chris Finlayson were in power, because they have this conception of our country as a partnership between two groups based on ancestry.
"I think that's wrong. I think that has led to division. I'm revealing it, yes, but I'm not causing it."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
